“The Big Short” fame investor Michael Burry warned on Tuesday about the dystopian implications of tokenizing traditional stocks on blockchain.

A Dark Digital Future Ahead?

Burry responded on X to a report of the SEC preparing to launch a framework for trading cryptocurrency versions of popular Wall Street equities.

Burry, known for his contrarian views and accurately predicting the 2008 housing market crash, expressed deep pessimism over the development, predicting a “Snow Crash”-style future.

Snow Crash is a 1992 science fiction novel by Neal Stephenson that depicts a future dominated by hyper-capitalism and corporate enclaves, and where people spend much of their lives in a virtual reality world called “Metaverse.”

Burry warned that embedding “digital value” into everything will erode personal relationships and devalue humanity.

“This may be the point in time that needs to be stopped from going forward by some future being,” he added.

Crypto stocks. We may be headed full-on to a Snow Crash cyber-punk future with no long-term personal relationships and digital value embedded in all of us directly correlated to the value provided to a society that increasingly devalues humanity. This may be the point in time… pic.twitter.com/PTNgvkgmSg

— Cassandra Unchained (@michaeljburry) May 19, 2026

Some Other Perspectives

Some X users argued that tokenized stocks would be “good” for personal ownership, as it would allow people to hold stocks without disclosing who they are.

Actually this is very good for personal ownership. Decentralizing ownership is a good thing and allows people to hold stocks without disclosing who they are. https://t.co/xTWCLXnCPi

— Shrimp Capital $CCLD $WELL.TO $RMB.V (@3Plantey2) May 19, 2026

Another user, with a pseudonym peeks, read Burry's comments as a short-term bullish signal for crypto stocks.

“This is so bullish short-term for this to become a massive bubble/problem worth crash,” the user said.

This is so bullish short-term for this to become a massive bubble/problem worth crash.. "crypto stocks" need to see a 3-5x and 100x adoption rate.

It can only be a large scaled ‘crash' with large scaled adoption. https://t.co/rTIXjKIWUV

— peeks (@soonfully) May 19, 2026

Burry’s Pessimism Follows His Research Into Tokenization

In December last year, Burry said he was “learning” about tokenization and noted its growing traction on Wall Street.

His latest alarm comes at a time when regulators and corporations alike have started to recognize the potential of blockchain technology and tokenization.

The SEC approved a rule change in March that would allow Nasdaq to support the trading of tokenized shares on the exchange.

The New York Stock Exchange is already developing a platform for the trade and on-chain settlement of tokenized U.S.-listed stocks and exchange-traded funds, offering 24/7 operations and instant settlement.

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